Every year brings a new list of restaurant trends: a dish everyone is suddenly serving, a colour of cocktail, a way of plating. Those come and go. This guide is about the trends that will change how a UK café, restaurant, pub or takeaway makes money in 2027, and what you can do about each one now.
1. Staff costs keep rising
This is the one that matters most. The National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over went up to £12.71 an hour in April 2026, and the rate for 18 to 20 year olds went up to £10.85. Employer National Insurance has been 15% since April 2025, starting from £5,000 a year of each employee's pay, which pulled many part-time staff into it for the first time. The next wage rates, for April 2027, are normally announced in late autumn.
What owners are doing about it:
- Rotas built from real sales. Look at when your rush actually starts and ends, hour by hour, and staff to that rather than to habit.
- Letting guests order for themselves. QR ordering at the table and self-order screens take the order-taking off your staff, so the same team can serve more covers. See how QR ordering cuts café queues.
- Fewer, better-selling dishes. A shorter menu is quicker to prep and easier to staff.
Our staff rota and time clock shows wage cost against sales for each shift.
2. Guests want value, not just low prices
Guests are still eating out, but they choose more carefully. Many venues have moved towards set lunches, meal deals, early-evening offers and smaller plates at lower prices. The places doing well are clear about what you get for your money.
What to do:
- Know your margin on every dish. Price rises are easier to make on dishes where the cost has gone up most, not across the board. Our guide to café profit margins explains how to work it out.
- Bundle rather than discount. A coffee and pastry deal at a fixed price protects your margin better than money off everything.
- Put the price on the menu clearly, including any service charge. See service charge and tips under UK law.
3. Regulars matter more than ever
Finding a new customer costs far more than keeping one. Independent cafés and restaurants are putting more effort into the guests they already have: digital stamp cards, birthday offers and "we miss you" messages to people who haven't visited for a while.
The trend is away from paper cards (easy to lose, easy to fake) and towards loyalty that runs on the guest's phone and links to the till, so you can see who your regulars are. See how to set up a café loyalty scheme and digital loyalty cards for cafés.
4. Ordering on phones is now normal
Scanning a QR code to see the menu felt new in 2020. Now many guests expect to order and pay from their phone at the table, the counter or the beer garden, especially younger guests and anyone in a hurry. For venues it means fewer missed orders, bigger baskets (guests add extras when they browse photos) and faster table turns.
The trend for 2027 is ordering that works with your till rather than a separate app: one menu, one kitchen screen, one set of reports. If you're unsure whether it suits your venue, read is QR ordering worth it for a small café.
5. Selling direct instead of through delivery apps
Delivery app commission eats a large share of every order. More takeaways and restaurants are pushing guests to order from their own website for collection, and using the apps to be found rather than as their main channel. See delivery app commission in the UK and commission-free online ordering.
6. Free AI tools for small venues
AI is no longer just for big chains. Assistants such as Claude can now read a café's own till data and answer plain questions: how did last week compare, what barely sold, when does Saturday get busy. They can also do the admin, such as typing up a printed menu from a photo. For a small venue that has no head office or analyst, that is like having a manager who never gets tired of questions about your numbers.
Café QR's connector for Claude is free on every plan. See free AI for restaurants.
7. New rules to plan for
A few rule changes are worth putting in your diary:
- Food waste recycling (England). Under the Simpler Recycling rules, businesses with 10 or more employees have had to separate food waste since 31 March 2025. Micro-businesses with fewer than 10 employees must do the same from 31 March 2027. If that's you, talk to your waste collector before then.
- Tips. Since October 2024, employers must pass all tips, gratuities and service charges to workers in full and have a written tipping policy.
- Business rates. Retail, hospitality and leisure relief changed in April 2026. Check your current bill and whether you qualify for small business rate relief on gov.uk.
- Allergens. Guests and the Food Standards Agency increasingly expect allergen information in writing, not just "ask a member of staff". See allergen information on online orders.
8. Food safety records go digital
Paper fridge logs and cleaning sheets are being replaced by checklists on a tablet, with reminders when a check is missed and records ready for an inspection. It saves time each day and makes the visit from your environmental health officer less stressful. See how to get a 5-star food hygiene rating.
What to do this winter
- Work out your wage cost as a share of sales, by day, and plan your 2027 rota around it.
- Check the margin on your 10 best-selling dishes and reprice the ones that have slipped.
- Start collecting regulars on a digital loyalty card before January, the quietest month.
- Try ordering on phones at a few tables, or on your busiest day.
- Put the 31 March 2027 food waste date in your diary if you have fewer than 10 staff.
Café QR brings the till, QR ordering, kitchen screens, loyalty, rotas and food safety records together from £9.99 a month, with no contract and the first month free. See pricing.